Bombers have 'nothing to lose'

THE BOMBERS will take a nothing-to-lose mentality into Friday night's clash with Adelaide at AAMI Stadium, given the heavy odds against them progressing to a semi-final.

Essendon's theme for this week has been built upon maintaining the outlook its players have had all year, even though it will be the first final for a number of them.

"Going into a foreign state and being underdogs, you just go out there with nothing to lose," midfielder Heath Hocking said on Thursday.

"That's a big thing, but we're mainly concentrating on the game plan and playing to our strengths.

"It's a young team that obviously hasn't played finals at Essendon, so there's excitement.

"We're just trying to keep level-headed and do what we have to do for the team and go over to Adelaide and see what happens."

Hocking, 21, said Adelaide's heavy favouritism wasn't a deterrent for his teammates.

"We've played in big games throughout the year where we haven't been backed very much, so I think if we just do what we did in those games, it will all come together," he said.

"You don't look too much into what other people think. It's about how you play and how the team plays.

"We'll just concentrate more on that."

Assistant coach Ashley Prescott said the staff had ensured the build-up wasn't anything out of the ordinary for the largely inexperienced group.

"It's really been business as usual. It's been an approach we've taken probably through from the first NAB Cup game – to focus on our game style and look at the opposition, but really free the players up," he said.

"We're taking an attitude across to Adelaide of making sure we play our style of football, and give our best.

"They've been tremendous thus far, the players. They've really put their best foot forward.

"Training has been particularly good.

"We've been able to approach different games throughout the year with a pretty consistent message to the players, and that's certainly been the case."

Prescott said the club wasn't dwelling on Scott Lucas' retirement two weeks ago or expecting the dual best and fairest to fill a sudden void in attack.

"Scotty decided to make that call himself, and that was something he decided to do and the club really supported Scott and what he wanted," he said.

"Given the situation of getting into a final, it probably would be nice to have Scott available, but that's the way he decided to finish it and I think he sits comfortably with that."

Prescott confirmed Jobe Watson would lead the Bombers this week as part of a rotating captaincy in the absence of Matthew Lloyd.